Lately, he has been very interested in drawing pictures of himself and our family. Here is his latest magnadoodle creation.

Earning his keep by feeding Stella. No wonder she needs to lose a few pounds.

Baby sweatpants, a hooded flannel and bare feet. I'm pretty sure there's nothing cuter in the whole world.

Will says "cheese!" John sits on his newest chair... a drum.

Looking good, John John! He may have put the hat on by himself.

Our local wildlife sighting for the day: a deer running across our neighbor's driveway.

We went to the zoo. In November. And it was 62 degrees. 

Every time I look back at this picture my heart melts a little bit more. I had just let John out of the stroller and asked them to hold hands and walk nicely. The fact that they listened was amazing.

Still holding hands while looking for Elk and Caribou.

The boys weren't looking but the red panda was asleep out in the open so I caught it when I could.

John thought he'd take an off road adventure into the flower beds. Will assured me that he had things under control.

I'm certain John's saying cheese and that his smile is adorable. It's too bad you can't actually see it.

Look, that cow has a green horn growing out of the middle of it's head! Oh wait, that's just Will.

They wanted to see how they measure up. Will is pretty tall! John is just a goof ball.

Will voted at school this morning and then momma voted at the polls. I wish I was as happy about voting this year as he was!

I watched this sneaky squirrel run with an apple in its mouth from the orchard to bury it in our new mulch. It's still so beautiful out that I almost forget Winter is actually on its way.

Covered in 2 blankets with milk and a graham cracker. I call that living the dream.

I live in a house with 2 boys. On days like today it is ever so apparent. The destruction they are capable of astounds me. They call it "playing."

Will's school pictures came! He sure is a handsome little man. Grandpa did a great job getting him dressed and combing his hair while Mommy & Daddy were in AZ.

One Monday morning I was in the shower while Will played in his room and John was in his crib. I saw a little blond head come strolling into the bathroom and thought "Hmmm, I wonder what Will wants." I would never find out what Will wanted, however, because it was John that had come walking in. He climbed out of his crib and wanted to come show off his escape. I have never finished showering so quickly in my life! I went back into his room, put him back into his crib and asked him to show me how he got out. He very easily put his leg up over the crib rail, climbed over and shimmied his way down without a problem. Which brings me to the photo below of John's new temporary "big boy bed" - his crib without a rail. Ironically, some friends were just over for dinner the Saturday before this happened and inquired as to how long we'd keep John in a crib. My response was something along the lines of "as long as we possibly can." He thought that was hilarious and climbed out less than 48 hours later.

Morning selfies with mommy!

They are really sweet brothers to one another when they want to be, like this morning when Will is helping John color at the table. John had to get a placemat and some flash cards out of his way first so he threw them all over the floor.

We made glitter pictures. John made himself a glitter forehead too.

The day after our South Carolina trip we took the kids to Home Depot to pick out our Christmas tree and buy a new tree stand. I think they were still in need of running time because standing still to take a photo with mom by the Christmas tree proved to be a tall task!

The next morning we woke up to this little piece of wonderful on our floor. The brand new tree stand purchase from the day before had a leak. That, combined with my red burlap tree skirt stained our floor. It's the most wonderful time of the year!

Sorry, Christmas tree, its back outside for you until we get our new tree stand. 

Home Depot was very helpful, accommodating and apologetic. They even gave us a brand new tree stand at no charge and got an insurance claim submitted for our floor repair. So, although it really sucks to wake up to a red stain on your floor its at least nice to know that they are willing to help remedy the situation.

Hi ho, hi ho, it's off to Costco we go. And yes, he takes his socks and shoes off in the car, even when its 40 degrees outside.

Will wanted to buy this teddy bear from Costco. I told him he'd have to get rid of his bed in order for it to fit in his room.

They look really cute posing with it though!

A terrible, no good, awful thing happened during nap time today. My baby is officially not a baby anymore. I took it away and gave him a replacement. That night, Erik did the sensible thing and took it away completely. I'm really not happy with either one of them right now. It's the end of an era for my "nuk-y baby" :(

My food styling could use some work. But my cooking and baking game is on point. Homemade beef stew with drop biscuits. Yum. I texted this picture to Erik, who was running really late getting home from work, warning him that I'd feed his to Stella if he wasn't home to eat with the kids and I.

Today was Sydney Boo's birthday so we sent her a birthday greeting with pictures from her crazy cousins. I call John my little "Monkey See, Monkey do, Monka Monka Moo" - this picture is why. He always tries to mimic what big brother does.

Hands down, one of my favorite days of the entire year is when we decorate our Christmas tree. It's even more fun now that the boys can help. Erik and I get it into the stand, I put on the lights and we all put on the ornaments together. Coincidentally, my least favorite day is when we have to take it down. Not because I'm sad about taking it down... but because I hate taking lights off a mostly dead tree and all the pine needles that need to be cleaned up.  

A little post Christmas tree decorating movie night for these little munchkins. Its so fun sharing traditions from our childhood with these boys.